“Oh, that it is the reason why,” Spikes said of his still playing in the NFL 14 years after the Cincinnati Bengals made him the 13th overall pick in 1998 draft. “I mean, the Good Man upstairs has given me favor -- that first and foremost. But it’s the little stuff, because if you don’t care for the little stuff, if you let the little stuff keep lingering around and you add it up, that’s the big picture. It blows up on you.”

A torn Achilles’ early in the 2005 season placed Spikes on injured reserve, and a torn hamstring early the next season, which Spikes attributes to compensating for the Achilles’, caused him to miss four games. It was then that he purchased the hyperbaric chamber and began to “hone in and take care of my body, try to become one with my body.”

Now as much as ever, he needs to.

For the first time since 2007, Spikes is playing every down. He has, in fact, played all but 39 of the Chargers 718 defensive snaps.

That was not the intention when Spikes, who will turn 35 on Dec. 17, was signed to a three-year deal in July after spending the previous three seasons playing for the San Francisco 49ers. But due to injuries elsewhere, he is pretty much the only option at “Mike” inside linebacker.